Basic Guideline for Beginers

SOLDERING
Soldering Materials Soldering Processes Soldering Equipments
 OPENNING
It is often easy to take the basics for granted. In some colleges, students had a

lab where they had to solder two wires to a speaker and almost no one in the

class knew how to do it. This kind of steep learning curve is even more preva-

lent in board design, where the future engineers must learn the jargon to

even begin to understand what a tutorial is talking about. This series will give

engineers a deep dive into the basics of soldering so they can understand

how important it is in the manufacture of a good PCBA. The basics of solder-

ing are the same whether they are connecting wires to a speaker or SMT com-

ponents to a PCB. When manufacturing production volumes their CM is not

going to use some solder wire and an iron; instead, they will likely use solder

reflow or wave soldering depending on the types of components in your

design. Understanding these processes and principles behind soldering will

help you design to avoid the various defects that can be difficult to trace and

kill a design when it is time for production.

I. What is soldering? 03

II. Soldering aspects involving 04

1. Soldering Materials 04
2. Soldering process & tool 07
3. Lựa chọn vật liệu hàn phù hợp 11
I. WHAT IS SOLDERING?
Soldering is the process of connecting In Printed Circuit Board (PCB), soldering
two metals together by fusing them with is used both to attach components physi-
a different element, solder. The process is cally to the PCB and to provide electrical
distinguishable from welding in that only conductivity between the component’s
the fused metal melts, while the two con- leads and the PCB traces. For the solder-
necting metals remain undeformed. ing process to be successful, an interme-
With this technique, a strong but revers- tallic compound or alloy must be formed
ible connection can be made between between the solder and the base materi-
electrical conductors, if necessary for al (the leads and traces).
component replacement or board repair.

Notice:
Unlike welding, soldering does not involve melting the work pieces.
In brazing, the work piece metal also does not melt, but the filler metal is one that
melts at a higher temperature than in soldering.

To protect the solder joint areas from dized) with flux so that the solder can
oxidation, contact areas on new PCBs flow over and wet the surface.
receive a surface finish by being dipped To understand the PCB Soldering, it is
in a solder bath and hot-air solder leveled necessary to discover the following
or are plated by some other plating pro- aspects:
cess such as electroless nickel or palladi- Soldering Material
um. Soldering Processes
Just prior to or during soldering, the Soldering Tools
surfaces to be joined are cleaned (deoxi

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II. SOLDERING ASPECTS INVOLVING
1. Soldering Materials
Soldering materials are available in many different alloys for differing applications. They
can be differentiated according to alloy components or their forms.

1.1. Alloy

In PCB assembly, common solder formu-

lations based on tin (Sn) and lead (Pb) is
63/37: melts at 183 °C (361 °F) – named as
Sn63 – Pb37.

a. Silver solder

However, due to demand of increasing

physical and mechanical properties of
solder joints (such as electrical resistance,
tensile strength and microstructure) and
long lifespan, Silver (Ag) has been used as
a component of soldering material. The common formulations could be named as:
Sn62-Ag2.0-Pb36; Sn-0.4 Ag-36.8Pb; Sn-3.0 Ag-0.5 Sb-34.5Pb; …

b. Lead-free solder

For environmental reasons (and the than most other metal, posing a direct
introduction of regulations such as the inhalation hazard to workers.
European RoHS (Restriction of Hazard- The conventional lead-free solders are
ous Substances Directive), lead-free not eutectic formulations, melting at
solders are becoming more widely used. around 250 °C (482 °F), making it more
The negative effect of using Pb for manu- difficult to create reliable joints with
facturing activities: them. However, with the development of
Its amount used in each electronic technology, lead-free solder materials
device is too small to recycle – increase have low melting range such as
toxicity for environment Sn65-Bi58 (at 139°C) or Sn-57.6Bi-0.4Ag
In manufacturing environment, the (at 139–168°C), …
vapour pressure of Pb is much higher

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1.2. Form

According to form of soldering materials, it is possible to categorize them into three

main types:

a. Solder Wire
Solder Wire is one of the most popular
forms of solder that is used in manual
soldering such like rework. Not all the
solder wires are created equal, different
wires are suited to different applications
and temperatures. The solder wire can
also vary drastically depending on the
type of soldering alloys. Its melting point
is low so that it is easy to melt along with
the soldering iron in manual soldering
process. Depending on the application
and soldering temperature, many differ-
ent types of soldering wires are available.

b. Solder Bar
Solder Bar is, as its name, a compound of alloys formed in bar shape. Solder bar is an alloy
of solder cast or extruded into ingot, bar or stick form for melting into solder pots or
seam soldering. This soldering material is usually used in wave soldering process.

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c. Solder Paste

Solder Bar is, as its name, a compound of alloys formed in bar shape. Solder bar is an alloy
of solder cast or extruded into ingot, bar or stick form for melting into solder pots or
seam soldering. This soldering material is usually used in wave soldering process.

1.3. Flux

Besides Solder Wire, Solder Bar and clean it off the circuit board after it has
Solder Paste, there is another indispens- done its job. Some fluxes are corrosive,
able material relating to soldering pro- and their residue may continue their
cess – FLUX. activity and harm the circuit board long
Flux is a chemical cleaning agent used after it has been manufactured.
before and during the soldering process BENEFITS:
of electronic components onto circuit Prepare the PCB surface for solder-
boards. ing by cleaning and removing any
Flux is used in both manual hand solder- oxides and impurities.
ing as well as the different automated Protect surface from re-oxidation
processes. It can be used as a separate during soldering
material or as a component in solder Help to increase surface energy of
paste/ solder wire. PCB surface – then soldering material
Another aspect of flux is the need to can be better at wettability.

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2. Soldering Process & Tool

The soldering process refers to the formation of solder joint with the selected solder
product. The soldering process can be categorized as rework soldering and mass solder-
ing.

2.1. Manual rework soldering

a. Process
The rework soldering needs removal of In such a case, reflow will be adopted to
pre-soldered mass with local heating melt the solder to form the joint. Rework
such as hot air, focusing lamp, or local is also possible with manual soldering
resistive heating. The replenish solder which adopts solder wire and soldering
may be applied with solder paste or iron.
solder preform.

b. Tool

Solder Iron
A soldering iron is a hand tool used to
solder two metal surfaces together.
At its simplest form, it consists of:
A metal tip
A heating element that brings the tip
up to soldering temperature
An insulated handle to allow safe hold-
ing of the soldering iron
A plug for either a wall outlet or the
soldering station.

Solder Station A soldering station is a more advanced

version of the basic standalone soldering
pen. If you are going to be doing a lot of
soldering, these are great to have as they
offer more flexibility and control. The
main benefit of a soldering station is the
ability to precisely adjust the tempera-
ture of the soldering iron which is great
for a range of projects. These stations can
also create a safer workspace as some
include advanced temperature sensors,
alert settings and even password protec-
tion for safety.

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Solder Tip

The soldering tip’s job is to transfer heat

(1)
from the heating element to the work. It
has a copper interior, which acts as an
effective and efficient thermal conduc- (2)

tor. It also has iron plating to protect the

soft, corrosive-prone copper from flux
and solder, and chrome-nickel plating to
keep the flux from wetting up the tip. (1) Conical Tip – Used in precision elec-
There are many variations of this tip and tronics soldering because of the fine tip.
they come in a wide variety of shapes and Because of its pointed end, it is able to
sizes. Each tip is used for a specific pur- deliver heat to smaller areas without
pose and offers a distinct advantage over affecting its surroundings.
another. The most common tips are used (2) Chisel Tip – This tip is well-suited to
in electronics projects are the conical tip soldering wires or other larger compo-
and the chisel tip. nents because of its broad flat tip.

2.2. Mass soldering

a. Mass reflow process

Mass reflow process is generally

applied for the packaging pro-
cess with solder bump, solder
paste, solder ball, and solder pre-
form, etc. The solder products will
experience a unique heating pro-
file with stepwise temperature
rise, temperature holding, and
cooling.

The temperature rises to the first step in the mid of the profile where the temperature
maintains constant for certain period of time to activate the flux. The fluxing action gen-
erally involves chemical cleaning and lowering of surface tension. Both actions are facili-
tated by temperature.
Afterwards, the temperature ramps up to the peak temperature and holds for certain
duration like a few minutes or less. The peak reflow temperature is generally 30-50oC
above the melting/liquidus temperature of the solder alloy being used. The solder melts
during temperature ramp and remains liquid at high.

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The unique character of the soldering
is better appreciated by the mass
reflow process. Soldering relies on
solderability. Accordingly, the solder pad
or the solder mask confines the solder-
ing sites to enable selective soldering.
The selective soldering allows the manu-
facturing of hundreds or even thousands
of solder joints in one soldering step and thus achieves high production efficiency. In
addition, the relatively low soldering temperature promises the broad fit of substrate
materials and modules.

Surface Mount Technology (SMT)

Surface-mount technology (SMT) is basi- the bottom to fill in the holes and inter-
cally a component assembly technology connect the components. SMT has the
related to printed-circuit boards wherein advantages over the plated
the components are attached and con- through-hole insertion process are:
nected on the surface of the board using Achieving higher packaging densities
batch solder-reflow processes. Higher reliability
SMT differs from other PWB (Printed Reduced cost
Wiring Board) methods where the com- SMT is currently the process most widely
ponent leads are inserted into plated used for low-cost, high-production con-
through-holes and wave-soldered from sumer electronic assemblies.

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b. Wave Soldering

Wave soldering process is applied for the The inserted leads may be brush fluxed
THT (through-hole technology) modules prior to passing through the solder wave.
designed for mounting with solder. Typi- The solder liquid climbs up the leads
cal examples for the THT modules when the leads pass through the con-
include PDIP (plastic dual-in-line pack- tact area. The solder climbs up through
age), SIP (single-in-line package) and wetting process and joins the compo-
typical low pin count passive compo- nents after solidifying. Wave soldering
nents. needs to secure fluent flow of the solder
The THT modules are inserted in the liquid. Viscosity of liquid is disproportion-
metallized via produced on PCB. The al to temperature. The wave soldering is
straight leads of the THT modules are thus generally processed at a tempera-
soldered to fix by conveying the PCB ture higher than the reflow temperature
moving through the fresh surface of the adopted for mass reflow. The wave
solder wave. The solder wave was pro- soldering process is mainly applied for
duced by sump the liquid solder to pro- soldering of relatively lower pin count
vide fresh solder surface for soldering. THT components.

Step 01: Spraying flux before pre-heating

Absorbent Filter

To pre-heat stage

From board assembly

Air knife: Remove excess flux

Flux reservoir & spray mechanism

Step 02: Preheater tunnel to raise the PCB temperature prior to wave soldering

PCB conveyor track

From fluxing To wave soldering stage

stage
Preheater

Hot air
Preheater fans

Step 03: THT soldering

Solder drawn up PTH to form
fillets top & bottom of PCB
Component leads & PCB direction

PCB platted through hole

Copper pads Solder wave

Solder peel back point
wave
Flux penetration
into PTH
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3. How to choose the right soldering materials

“How to choose the right one” is always a difficult question to answer, particularly in
soldering materials as it depends on many aspects.

3.1. What is your soldering process and productivity?

Basically, the relationship among the soldering materials, process, tool as well as produc-
tivity can be summarized as below:

Solder Materials Soldering Process Equipment Productivity

Solder Wire Manual Soldering/ Soldering Station, Soldering Small in

Rework Iron, Soldering Tip Labs or Trial
Run

Solder Bar Wave Soldering A conveyor that moves the Mass pro-
PCB through the different duction
zones;
A pan of solder used in the
soldering process;
A pump that produces the
actual wave;
The sprayer for the flux and
the preheating pad.

Solder Paste Reflow Soldering SMT machine integrated in

including SMT complicated system

3.2. Do your end-products require lead-free materials?

Lead has a relatively low melting point properly, reliability between lead and
and readily wets and flows, which makes lead-free solders should be about the
the process faster, easier, and more same.
fool-proof. For high-end electronics used in extreme
Lead-free solders have a higher melting environments (e.g. aerospace electron-
point and generally require more active ics), there are concerns with the tenden-
or more concentrated fluxes (higher cy of bright tin in lead-free solder to crys-
solids content) to achieve the same tallize and form tin whiskers -- thin wires
soldering performance as leaded solders. of tin that can grow from the solder
For typical manual soldering, if done joints.

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If you are repairing or assembling elec- Europe, it is necessary to consider
tronics for use in the country that does lead-free solder. An exception might be
not have strict regulation of lead percent- for high-reliability electronics like those
age, lead solder is the easiest to work with used in aerospace. In that case, check
and it forms the most reliable solder with the specifications and requirements
joints. The lower heat also generates less of the end-user of the electronics.
thermal stress on the rest of the PCB. Lead-free may still be required, but there
In contrast, if the end product is being may be exemptions in place that allow
shipped internationally, especially to for the use of lead solder.

3.3. Selecting the alloy composition

Selecting the right solder alloy for your without damaging the device or device
application is crucial to the success of the performance?
project. If the right solder alloy is not 2) Consider that some alloys really need
selected and plating requirements are from 25°C to in some cases 100°C hotter
not defined, the selected process may (above the melting point) to flow well and
not be capable of producing solderable wet the mating surfaces. Can the device
deposits. Incomplete plating require- tolerate this elevated solder tempera-
ments often result in excessive rework ture?
and scrap. 3) What are the die and substrate metalli-
With so many different alloy composi- zations?
tions of solder available, choosing the 4) Do you have the correct metallizations
right alloy could be quite challenging. for that selected solder alloy?
The best approach is to consider: 5) Is there a good history of successful
1) What is the maximum temperature good wetting and flow for that alloy?
that the device(s) can be exposed to

Composition Melting range Special advantages

low-melting, highly reliable indium

Sn-3,5Ag-0.5Bi-6.0In 200–210°C
alloys

Sn-3.5Ag-2.0Bi 216–220°C high AG, high solder joint strength

Sn-0.3Ag-2.0Cu 217–270ºC minimizes Cu leaching

Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu 217–220ºC SAC, JEITA recommended

Anti tip-wastage, SAC, JEITA recom-
Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu-0.04Fe 217–221ºC mended
Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu-0.03Fe-α 217–221ºC Anti tip-wastage and avoiding
oxidation

Sn-1.0Ag-0.7Cu 217–224ºC low Ag

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 Composition Melting range Special advantages

Sn-0.3Ag-0.7Cu-0.04Fe 217–228ºC Anti tip-wastage, low Ag, SAC

Sn-0.3Ag-2.0Cu 217–270ºC Minimizes Cu leaching

Anti tip-wastage, minimizes Cu
Sn-0.3Ag-2.0Cu-0.04Fe 217–271ºC
leaching
Sn-3.5Ag 221ºC Sn-Ag eutectic
High AG, very high solder joint
Sn-4.0Ag-2.0Bi-3.0Sb-α 221–227ºC strength
Sn-0.7Cu 227ºC Sn-Cu eutectic

Sn-0.7Cu-0.04Fe 228ºC Anti tip-wastage, Sn-Cu eutectic

Sn-0.6
228ºC Very high tip life time
Cu-0.05Ni-0.035Fe-Ga

3.4. The dimension of alloy composition

a. Solder Wire
Diameter of solder wire – Make sure you thus increasing the chance of thermally
do not confuse solder wire intended for stressing or even soldering other compo-
plumbing with solder wire intended for nents that are unrelated to your repair.
electronics. Wire for plumbing will be Flux core or solid wire – Most wire solder
much thicker, 2mm in diameter or comes with a flux core, so the flux will
higher. Electronics solder wire will be automatically activate and flow over the
thinner, from 1.5mm down to 1/2mm, or soldering area when the solder is melted.
even less. It is more convenient and efficient to
Match the diameter to the size of the work with. Solid wire can be used, with
connectors and contacts you are solder- flux added by a brush, a bottle dispenser,
ing. If the diameter of the wire solder is or a pen dispenser. Unless a very specific
too small, you will be going through too flux is required that is not available as a
much solder. Too large and it could be wire solder core, flux core wire solder is
hard to maneuver around a dense PCB, generally recommended.

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b. Solder Paste
Solder powder size is a popular topic in ed.
the electronics industry due to the con- The size of the solder powder affects the
tinuing trend of miniaturization of elec- performance of the solder paste in other
tronics. The question commonly asked is ways. Shelf life, stencil life, reflow perfor-
“when should we switch from Type 3 to a mance, voiding behavior, and reactivity /
smaller solder powder?” Solder powder stability are all affected by solder powder
size is usually chosen based on the print- size. Testing was conducted to measure
ing requirements for the solder paste. It is each of these solder pastes performance
common practice to use IPC Type 4 or 5 attributes for IPC Type 3, Type 4, Type 5
solder powders for stencil designs that and Type 6 SAC305 solder powders in
include area ratios below the recom- both water soluble and no clean solder
mended IPC limit of 0.66. The effects of pastes. The performance data for each
solder powder size on printability of size of solder powder in each solder paste
solder paste have been well document flux was quantified and summarized.

IPC Type Size Range (µm) Size Range (mil) Minimum Aperture
Size (mil)

T3 25 - 45 1.0 – 1.8 9

T4 20 – 38 0.8 – 1.5 7.5

T5 15 – 25 0.6 – 1.0 5

T6 5 - 15 0.2 – 0.6 3

Type of flux -- No-clean flux is a good with isopropyl alcohol (IPA). It is very
choice for soldering where cleaning is to important to clean off water soluble flux
be avoided. The light residue can be left residues because they are highly corro-
on the board, or removed with a flux sive.
remover. Rosin activated flux (RA) pro- You may also see options for “halo-
vides excellent solderability in a wide vari- gen-free” or “zero halogen”. These classi-
ety of applications. It is best to remove fications are for companies that have
the residue after soldering for aesthetics green initiatives or have to comply with
and to avoid corrosion down-the-line. halogen restrictions due to regulatory or
Rosin flux (R) or mildly activated rosin flux customer restrictions. Halogens include
(RMA) can generally be left on the PCB chlorine, fluorine, iodine, bromine and
after soldering unless aesthetics are a astatine elements. These can come with
problem. Water soluble flux (OA) is a very trade-offs like cleanability, so if you aren’t
active flux engineered to be removed required to eliminate halogens from your
easily with DI water, like in a batch or process, it is easier to stay with standard
in-line system. It can also be removed fluxes that contain halogens.

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3.5. What kind of flux should be used?
According to the features of each type of flux, user can choose the most suitable one:
a. Rosin Flux
Rosin flux is, unsurprisingly, made up clean surfaces and has the advantage of
primarily of rosin, which is extracted from leaving no residue behind. Rosin mildly
the sap of pine trees, and contains the activated flux is used on dirtier surfaces
active ingredient abietic acid (other acids and will leave more residue than ordinary
may be present as well). There are three rosin flux; after using rosin mildly activat-
types of rosin flux — rosin (R), rosin ed flux, you use a flux cleaner to cleanse
mildly activated (RMA), and rosin acti- the surface. Rosin activated flux cleans
vated (RA) — each of which have a differ- best but will leave a significant amount
ent level of activators, the agents of residue behind — because of this, rosin
enabling the flux to deoxidize and clean. activated flux is rarely used.
Rosin flux is used for cleaning already

b. Water Soluble Flux

Water soluble flux, also called organic a more aggressive oxidizer than is usually
acid flux, is typically made from glycol required. Organic flux is more reactive
bases. The downside to using water solu- than rosin activated flux and is thus a
ble flux is it often bonds with the circuit stronger cleaner. (Note: You can also find
board itself or other metal surfaces, and inorganic water soluble flux, which is
as a result will require thorough cleaning. even more powerful than water soluble
In addition, water soluble flux tends to be flux.)

c. No-Clean Flux
No-clean flux is a mixture of organic though it is no threat to the surface. You
resins — aside from rosin — mixed with can, however, find no-clean fluxes that
certain inorganic agents. The behaviors won’t leave residue behind. The main
and properties of no-clean fluxes can vary advantage of using a no-clean flux is that
significantly depending on their respec- you won’t need to clean the surface after
tive chemical composition; for example, soldering, because they do not affect
some no-clean fluxes leave a tremendous electrical conductivity.
amount of residue, which is unattractive,

RMA

NC

RA

WS

LOW ACTIVITY MEDIUM ACTIVITY HIGH ACTIVITY

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Above is basic information regarding to soldering process on PCB in electronics industry.
However, the soldering process is more complicated than these. Please refer to PROSTECH
other short article, video and e-book for further information and sharing experience.

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